Boudicca and Paulinus

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Introduction

A short biography of the Warrior Queen; Boudicca Boudicca, the warrior queen, was born in 30AD in the South East of England. Her name derived from the Celtic word 'Bouda' meaning victory. Little is known about her childhood; however it is assumed that she was raised as a noble as she was unusually clever. It is believed that she learned warrior skills and history of Celtic style people. Around 48 AD, she married Prasutagus, the head of the Iceni tribe, in south East England. They lived in Norfolk and during the reign of Prasutagus, they were given semi-independence from roman occupiers. Prasutagus was given the freedom to remain the King of Iceni but under the domain of Rome. He and Boudicca, were allies of Rome and she didn't originally start as the barbarian, warrior queen, she was actually a Roman Collaborator. But as soon has her husband died, she and her daughters were supposed to claim half of the kingdom according to his Will but the Will was ignored and everything went to Rome. When she refused to give the throne to the Roman emperor at the time, she was stripped and whipped in public until blood ran down her back. The soldiers who had come to seize the throne also raped her 10 and 12 year old daughters. ...read more.

Middle

While Boudicca continued her revenge against the Romans, the current Governor, Paulinus, galvanized an army of 10,000 legionnaires and marched them to an area where he was fairly certain his highly trained soldiers would have a tactical advantage over the Queen's rebels. With a dense forest at their backs his forces would meet the enemy from only one direction. Meanwhile, Boudicca and her warriors, certain they would once again prevail over such a small Roman force not only quickly but completely, brought their families along to witness this latest conquest. The battle raged all day, Boudicca sending wave after wave of her Britons against Paulinus's much more disciplined legionnaires. The Romans successfully repelled the rebels; eventually surrounding the Queen's remaining forces trapped between their terrified families. At the end of the Battle, only 400 Romans had fallen, but up to 200,000 Britons had been slaughtered. The Romans began their own systematic slaughter of warriors, women, children and the elderly, devastation from which few escaped. Boudicca and her two daughters did manage to get away, but rather than be taken back to Rome, they chose to commit suicide. So this ended the short-lived Boudican rebellion. Today Boudicca, warrior Queen of the Iceni tribe, is regarded as a heroine, a woman and a leader who stood her ground against foreign invasion. ...read more.

Conclusion

Meanwhile, Boudicca and her warriors, certain they would once again prevail over such a small Roman force not only quickly but completely, brought their families along to witness this latest conquest. However, the lack of manoeuvrability of the British forces, combined with lack of open-field tactics to command these numbers, put them at a disadvantage to the Romans, who were skilled at open combat due to their superior equipment and discipline, and the narrowness of the field meant that Boudicca could put forth only as many troops as the Romans could at a given time. First, the Romans stood their ground and used volleys of pila (heavy javelins) to kill thousands of Britons who were rushing toward the Roman lines. The Roman soldiers, who had now used up their pila, were then able to engage Boudica's second wave in the open. As the Romans advanced in a wedge formation, the Britons attempted to flee, but were impeded by the presence of their own families, whom they had stationed in a ring of wagons at the edge of the battlefield, and were slaughtered. The Romans began their own systematic slaughter of warriors, women, children and the elderly, carnage from which few escaped. News of Paulinus' brutality reached Rome and an excuse was found to remove him from his post. His career was not harmed too much. His eventual fate remains unknown. ...read more.

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